MIGRATING TO ASP.NET CORE: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

DINO ESPOSITO@desposdino.esposito@jetbrains.com

(ASP).NET CORE IS HOT THESE DAYS

Dino Esposito

.NET Core

THE UNTOLD STORYOF (ASP).NET CORE

ONCE UPON A TIME…

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?MICROSOFT IS LOOKING FOR NEW/MORE CUSTOMERS

TO BRING TO AZURE

The future of Microsoft is all in bringing as many people as possible to the cloud.

Subsequently, everything must be redesigned to play well with (and in) the cloud.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

Microsoft’s culture changed in past 10 years§ From “We know how to do things”§ To “Others do it always better than us”

WEB FORMSASP.NET MVC

THENASP.NET CORE

ASP.NET CORE was initially supposed to be just the cool new version of ASP.NET but along the way it turned into just one face of a new .NET foundation.

BETA1…12345

RC1…1234

RTM1…123

AND STILL

NO VISUAL BASIC NO F#NO SIGNALR

MODERN WEBJavaScriptMobile stuffCompact architectureUser experience

ORDER TODAY !

MODERN WEB

FACTS

JavaScript

Mobile stuff

Compact architecture

User experience

IIS / VS experience

ANSWERS

Use the frameworks you like

Use RWD

Apply design you like

Apply principles you like

Here’s an alternative

CROSS-PCCROSS-PLATFORM

CROSS-TOOLSHENCE

.NET CORE

THE UNTOLD STORYOF (ASP).NET CORE

AT THE VERY END OF THE DAY

IS THE STORY OF A NEW CROSS-PLATFORM FRAMEWORK

THAT CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED

LEGACY CODE

THINGS NOBODY MENTIONS

What about existing EF code?What about existing security layers?What about existing custom libraries?

Every developer must be trained to ASP.NET Core

THAT CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED

TRADE-OFF

TIOBE index May 2016http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index

ENTERPRISE WORLD FACTS

1. We do our very own business and our business is NOT (primarily) helping others to write software

2. We build on stable platforms and we build software that lasts

3. If it works, we tend not to touch it (except technical debt grows)

4. Legacy code? What’s NOT legacy?

5. Goal is to move slowly and constantly to never be too far behind (aka, technical debt)

.NET CORE IS HIGHLY INTRUSIVE

1. MUCH MORE THAN .NET WAS 15 YEARS AGO2. THE WORLD IS DIFFERENT 15 YEARS LATER3. CUSTOMERS ARE DIFFERENT FROM DEVELOPERS4. DEVELOPERS ARE MICROSOFT’s PRIMARY

CUSTOMERS 5. DEVELOPERS WORK / BUILD for CUSTOMERS

Less than two weeks after releasing RC2 and announcing RTM

THE OMG SERIES -- PART 1

It became clear that adopting .NET Core would require existing .NET developers to spend a considerable amount of time to port to it.

While there is certainly some value in presenting new customers with a cleaner API, it disproportionately penalized our existing loyal customers who have invested over many years in using the APIs and technologies we advertised to them.

We want to extend the reach of the .NET platform and gain new customers, but we can’t do so at the expense of existing users.

THE OMG SERIES -- PART 2

The process to extend the API surface of .NET Core will come after we ship .NET Core 1.0 RTM.

THE OMG SERIES -- PART 3

Here is the promise we want to make to you:

Whether you need to build a desktop application, a mobile app, a web site, or a micro service: you can rely on .NET to get you there. Code sharing is as easy as possible because we provide a unified BCL. As a developer, you can focus on the features and technologies that are specific to the user experiences and platforms you’re targeting.

DICTATORSHIP OF THE “INSTANT”

The moment something is announced it is perceived as REAL and EXISTING and WORKING

THE XAMARIN PATTERNXamarin did not start with reimagining the .NET stack

Xamarin took Mono (nearly identical to .NET), removed the .NET specific application model components (Windows.Forms, ASP.NET) and added new models for iOS and Android

IN THE END?

Transitioning to a new platform occurs over 5 years

It all started in 2014 (discussions even earlier)

Realistically .NET CORE won’t be ready for primetime for 2+ more years

Exceptions are hopefully possible

.NET Core 2.0 is bare minimum (2017 H2 perhaps?)

IN THE END?

.NET Core works well for the scenarios that we set out to address, it provides access to fewer technologies than other .NET platforms, especially the .NET Framework.

If you fit NOW in those scenarios, then it’s fine and safe.

If not, just wait until it stabilizes.

MUST READhttp://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2016/05/27/making-it-easier-to-port-to-net-core/

http://imgur.com/user/tougherguythanu

Thx!

Q&A